On the Forbidden Letters - by Gary Osborn
By Gary Osborn
Part 1
The ‘Serpent Grail Prophecy’ Letter
sent to Gary Osborn from the “Paris 4� – Nov 14
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 3:47 AM
Subject: The Paris 4 contacting you
Dear Philip and Gary,
We read on Gary's Messageboard that he is going to write an article on the Forbidden Letters (on his own?).
Our gay man has instructed us because of this upcoming article to contact you and to inform you in more detail about the 'prophecy' that you two are to write yet another book on the Grail.
That 'prophecy' comes from a 1949 letter by Thomas Mann. That letter came into the possession of our gay man on September 1 1986, so three days before his resurrection. He got that letter together with a copy of the collected short stories ('Die Erzählungen) by Thomas Mann.
The passage about you two (translated from German) is:
But now to the mentioned book ('zum besagten Buch').
It will be published ('veröffentlicht') during 'gloria olivae' ('während 'gloria olivae'').
There are two authors ('Urheber').
The title is ‘the Serpent Grail’ (Mann uses the correct English title).
These two authors will write the last book on our stone ('über unseren (our!) Stein') (italics are ours). (...) To these two authors reveal your Work of the Sun. But be sure to stay hidden yourself. ---- End of quote.
Thomas Mann will come to you as a surprise, we are sure, but it makes sense, as we discovered. Discovered what? That most of his short stories (and none of his novels!) are about alchemy. From the decapitation in 'Die vertauschten Köpfe'(1946) to the aggression impulses and the darkness of the Night of the Soul in 'Der Kleiderschrank' (1899).
And another thing. When was 'Die Erzählungen' (collected short stories) for the first time published? In August 1986 by Simon Fischer Verlag. A few weeks before our gay man's resurrection. A few weeks before he 'needed' them. Coincidence?
We wish you all the best,
And are abandoning this emailbox (hacker danger!) and vanish into thin air again.
The Paris 4.
The above email letter, which was also sent to Philip Gardiner, turned up in my Inbox.
Apparently this letter did not get past Gardiner’s ‘Spam filter’ and bounced back to the Paris 4, who were not amused. They then sent me the letter again – this time headed with the automatic response from Gardiner’s address . . .
Hi, it's " . . . @philipgardiner.net. I finally decided I'd had enough of junk mail, and installed a fantastic application that gets rid of it all. Unfortunately, you are not yet in my trusted senders list!!
The Paris 4 sent me another email – asking me to forward the letter onto Gardiner, and that’s one of the reasons why I am placing it here – not only so that Gardiner can view it, as requested by the Paris 4, but also because there are a few points I want to make here.
Firstly: I have cut all ties with my former "co-author", so I cannot see how this ‘prophecy’ is going to be fulfilled.
Secondly: I have no wish, and no need to write another book with Philip Gardiner.
Thirdly: Having stated this, I would seriously consider ‘personally’ writing another book on the Grail and in relation with what has been divulged in the Letters – but only if the Paris 4 can present or provide ‘proof’ of this ‘prophecy letter’ that had been written by Thomas Mann in 1949, as well as the letter that had been delivered to their ‘gay man’ in 1986 as they claim.
If proof of this could be presented, then this alone would be highly significant and all that they claim would then be worthy of some serious input – naturally. This is not just for my benefit but also for others who remain sceptical about the claims made by the Paris 4.
This leads me to a few other things that I want to make quite clear here . . . my part in the writing of The Serpent Grail and the events that led up to it.
The Truth Behind The Serpent Grail
There is no doubt in my mind that the strange circumstances and events in my own life leading up to my becoming a writer and author are quite extraordinary to say the least – especially when I look back to the year 1986.
In that year there was no indication of my ever becoming a writer – especially in the genre in which I write. At the time, I was a graphic artist and screen printer, and looking at everything realistically, I really had no aspirations beyond that. In that year the most notable event for me was the birth of my daughter Lisé (Li) on September 17th.
Any desire on my part to write anything had to wait until after November 1993, when I went through a life-changing experience. This “awakening� event was more than two years after my brother Paul’s experience of this same “awakening� phenomenon around midday on June 7th 1991.
There is no question that Paul’s own experience and our numerous discussions about it afterwards had a serious effect on me where I experienced the same two years later.
In any case, Paul and I both did some research into this phenomenon and discovered that what we had both experienced was the ‘enlightenment’ known by the Hindus as Kundalini. We had never heard of this term and wasn’t aware of this experience or this phenomenon before these experiences began.
During, before and after the years these ‘awakenings’ took place – say between 1989 and 1995 – my brother and I also had many kinds of paranormal experiences; these experiences were often accompanied by paranormal phenomena and effects witnessed by Paul, myself and members of our own family and friends.
I made notes and have now written a record of all these events, which include accounts given by all who were involved. Some of those who knew about these events were of the opinion that some of the experiences we described were similar in content to what we find in “alien abduction� accounts. Paul and I reserved judgement on this but also looked into this phenomenon and discovered some interesting correlations. We also acknowledged the fact that we had each experienced strange unexplained events that went back to our early childhood, but until now had kept these experiences to ourselves.
It was soon after my own ‘core-experience’ in 93, that I began to receive deep insights. I began making connections between things where no connection was perceived to exist, either by myself or others before these experiences began. I also wrote these insights down and would immediately write on anything that was available at the time just in case these thoughts left me as quickly as they came.
Over the following five years and using a word processor, I had amassed around four to five volumes (books) worth of material – all information that really came from within. Its difficult to say how much of this material might be “worthless� , as I would find that the true significance of many of the insights and ideas that had come to me, and the theories and connections which I had made over the years – even up to the present time – would only become apparent later. Many a time, this infusion of information/knowledge, would be accompanied by the strangest coincidences or synchronicities.
In 1997, I met Jacqui, the woman who would become my wife and the mother of our three children, and also met up with writer on Shamanism Mark Dunn. Over three years Mark and I became close and had many discussions about our experiences and we learned a lot from each other regarding the nature of consciousness, reality and esoteric subjects. In 1998, and after some email correspondence with physicists Jack Sarfatti and Fred Alan Wolf, also author Colin Wilson, Mark and I were both invited onto physicist Jack Sarfatti’s exclusive email list and contributed to the forum discussions.
I discovered that many of the people who were on Jack Sarfatti’s exclusive email list – and this list included physicists, researchers/authors, journalists, members of various Intelligence Agencies, politicians, multi-millionaires, and some of the world’s leading scientists and industrialists – had experienced Kundalini at some time in their life. These people told me about their experiences in private emails.
Through my research into this phenomenon I discovered that this experience was happening to many people in the west – most being spontaneous and with the experiencer having no prior instruction in Yoga, nor any prior interest in or knowledge of mystical subjects – especially the physiological processes associated with the chakra system. As a growing phenomenon in the west, I would say it began around the late ’50s.
It appears that I am now the ‘bridge’ between 1), the synchromesh of phenomena that surrounds Jack Sarfatti and which has been written about in The Stargate Conspiracy by Picknett & Prince, and 2), this new and growing interest in Alchemy, Christ consciousness, and the link to Kundalini as presented by the ‘Paris 4’.
In the discussions that are going on in both these circles, questions have been brought up about the possibility of a coming Eschaton event.
Up until 2002, Mark and I had submitted several articles for publication – Mark’s articles appeared in a few ‘new-age’ magazines.
Then around January 2002, and after seeing an advertisement in a magazine for Philip Gardiner’s book The Shining Ones, I decided to send the author an email. Something about the title, which was about an ancient shamanic priesthood, clicked with me.
I understood that this universal name or term was associated with this ‘enlightenment phenomenon’ my brother and I had experienced. Gardiner and I began a casual correspondence over two years – sending each other the odd email on occasion.
In July 2003, through the post I received Philip Gardiner's original manuscript of The Serpent Grail. In the weeks preceding this, I had agreed to his offer to work together on this book and possible future books. Again, we had been corresponding close to two years before we finally made the decision to venture into a co-author partnership and there was much that we had already discussed and shared. We both signed a contract to collaborate on all future books, and this signing was verified by friends who also signed as witnesses.
Reading Philip Gardiner’s manuscript, his initial insight was that to cure or heal others, the ancient shaman or tribal witchdoctor would mix snake's venom with snake’s blood. The venom can kill, but the blood of the snake acts as an antidote to the poison and neutralises it, and so it was found that both mixed together would create a potent substance that when swallowed could cure most or all diseases.
We find today that snake’s venom can indeed cure many ills and actually boosts the human immune system. Scientists and immunologists had already been researching into the medicinal benefits of snake venom and other venoms for years. Powdered snake is common in Homeopathy and other alternative treatments, so this ‘revelation’ was nothing new in itself. However, Gardiner’s angle was that the mixture of both the snake venom and blood was perhaps the original ‘elixir of life’ and this is what made his thesis refreshing and exciting.
In his original manuscript Gardiner stated that these two properties of the one snake were mixed in a ‘human skull cap’ – adding that this “bowl� was possibly the origin for the Holy Grail vessel. Gardiner also said that this snake ‘elixir’ could have given rise to the various snake or serpent cults that were worldwide in ancient times and even earlier as there was evidence to show that the high-protein venom could even act as an hallucinogen – initiating an altered state of consciousness and numerous psychedelic experiences.
This is what interested me most and realising this; the correspondences and connections then came thick and fast. It was possible that the snake’s venom and blood also facilitated the shamanic trance state which can lead to higher states of consciousness – even ‘enlightenment’ itself – hence the reason why ‘wisdom’ was applied to the snake or serpent.
Now when I first received Philip Gardiner’s manuscript, I noted that it had the subtitle which it has now: The Truth behind The Holy Grail, The Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life.
Having read the manuscript, my thoughts were that this subtitle was an overstatement, and so I intended to bring my own insights to the book, which would hopefully validate the claims expressed in the subtitle. With what I had learned over the years through my own research into my own experiences, I was confident I could achieve this.
In section 24 of his response article on the ‘Forbidden Letters’, Jonathan Rice writes:
'Although Gardiner and Osborn did not, as they claim on the cover, know the 'truth behind the Grail', as we know now after reading the Letters, the Serpent Grail is, in my opinion, still the best possible introduction to the Forbidden Letters. Because of the secondary information it contains.’
I disagree with this statement: I cannot vouch for Gardiner, but I knew and understood exactly what lay behind the Grail; what the stories meant and what they were alluding to symbolically as I experienced the very thing that the Grail symbolises.
I also explained, and perhaps for the first time, the real meaning behind the “Philosopher’s Stone� .
As for The Serpent Grail containing ‘secondary information’ when compared to the information given in the ‘Forbidden Letters’, I have to disagree with this too. My work is far from complete and the articles on my website contain more additional information about these connections that I do not see anywhere else.
I knew that my own contributions to The Serpent Grail, which in general take up the first half of the book, would have some import, as I was bringing attention to certain things and making logical connections that no researcher or author had made before, and this is supported by the fact that soon after The Serpent Grail was published, these letters first appeared, as sent by the Paris 4.
Although their first letter was sent to Gardiner, the Paris 4 and their ‘gay man’ concentrated on specific themes in the book that were really my own contributions, and surprisingly they did not mention anything specific about the main theory of the book as presented in Gardiner’s original manuscript – this being the shamanic ‘concoction’ of both the venom and blood of the snake that Gardiner believes was the original ‘elixir of life’.
Since my experience and what I had come to understand about the processes that lead to enlightenment and the whole ‘awakening’ phenomenon, it was always my intention to bring this experience out into the open – making it accessible to the general public and to the ‘man on the street’ - and I saw this book as the vehicle to launch these new ideas.
As for Gardiner’s claim in the subtitle – i.e., that his theories contained the truth to the real meaning behind the Grail, I was surprised that the enlightenment experience known in India as Kundalini (“serpent fire� ) wasn't mentioned at all in Gardiner’s original manuscript, because it was obvious to me that this phenomenon is what the Grail legend is really all about. Gardiner hadn’t had this experience so he was wasn’t really aware of its importance and failed to see that most ancient texts and even the Bible and the Gospels were chock full of allegory and symbolism that referred to this phenomenon repeatedly.
Also, I could see that the dual processes associated with Kundalini lent some correspondence to the two properties of the snake – not only for healing purposes, but also the ‘immortality’ and ‘wisdom’ element relating to the elixir and the Grail.
The subject of ‘Duality’ was not presented in the manuscript – not alone the ‘mid-point’ (the ‘third’), which is the principle theme in mysticism and one of the most significant secrets in the schools of the esoteric and of course most so-called ‘secret societies’.
The ‘Law of Three’ and especially the ‘third’ neutral element – being the union and/or ‘fusion’ of the aforementioned opposites, is what grants us the answers to most mysteries associated with human consciousness and the nature of reality, and so a general understanding of this principle is indeed paramount when researching into these mystical subjects.
Even though the concept is indeed simple, it’s amazing that only a few people will grasp it immediately.
Indeed my own contributions nearly didn’t make it into The Serpent Grail, and mainly because of the lack of understanding by the publishers and others during the editing process. Some of it was also highly controversial. It took some of the people involved a long time to come around to an understanding of these connections – many of which are ancient and evident in the esoteric texts. Just goes to show that even these connections themselves present a paradox to many of us – being both complex and simple to understand – and this simplicity is only acknowledged once one gets beyond a certain level of understanding where the pieces all begin to fit into place.
Gardiner also had problems understanding these concepts, and once the “penny finally dropped� he rushed out Gnosis under his own publishing company Radikal.
Bear in mind that this was only two months after The Serpent Grail had been published. Naturally, I hadn't been told by Gardiner that passages from my own written work had been included with no quotation references . . . something he promised to put right in subsequent print runs, and even in the new published version, and hasn’t.
He has now issued an apology for this on his website and has stated that he will now amend everything. See here: _http://www.gardinersworld.com/content/view/156/54/
[Editor's note: Here for your convenience is the content of that page.]
Tuesday, 28 November 2006
Clarification
I just wanted to clarify a few things. The first one is to acknowledge the input and insight from my co-author on The Serpent Grail and the newly and mis-titled book The Shining Ones. The Shining Ones - the new version was put together whilst I was still co-running a business and was mostly written by Gary Osborn based upon his work with the kundalini and the enlightenment experience termed the Shining.
I hinted heavily at this as the answer to the term in the original version (see pages 94 etc). Here's a quote from the original book I wrote:
"The aim of the shaman was to free his thoughts from his physical body. In the same way that Buddhists and Hindus try to achieve this result, the shaman attempts to "remove the obstacles". To become what is known as an "angakok" (phonetically similar to Annakim and Anannage), he must call down the positive power of god. Just as the spirit touched the apostles and flames licked above their heads, so too this powerful spirit comes upon the shaman and is called "gaumanek" which means "illuminated" or "shining". The shaman literally becomes the Shining One on earth.
"… a mysterious light which the shaman suddenly feels in his body, inside his head, within his brain, an inexplicable searchlight, a luminous fire, which enables him to see in the dark, both literally and metaphorically speaking, for he can now, even with closed eyes, see through darkness and perceive things and coming events which are hidden from others."
There is nothing different here from the experiences of the biblical prophets, the Egyptian priesthood and the Hindu and Buddhist monks. Enlightenment is experienced in much the same manner the world over." Etc
Etc
What Gary eruditely did was to take this book and re-write most of it in a brilliant manner to which he should be applauded as he basically took this shining element and went much deeper with it. I then added a few chapters about modern and ancient secret societies in relationship to this term.
During the process of this work I was busy finishing off working for my company and ending things there, whilst desperately doing radio shows and promotion activities on The Serpent Grail and without Gary The Shining Ones would not have been re-written. In the same respect, somebody had to be front man and promote. But we BOTH wanted the book's name changing because it was completely re-done and has no resemblance to the original book - in fact Gary wanted the title The Inner Sun and I completely agreed. Alas our publishers did not and we had no choice because we had already signed the contract. Because of Gary's input I stated that the book should have AND and not WITH Gary Osborn, because of this. Also during this time, I met lots and lots of people all influencing me in a great many ways, including the input Gary had and I spent a lot of time with various Gnostics and Sufi's and came to an understanding about Gnosis and the Temple and so I decided to write about it for a future book. It seemed to me that I had finally come to an understanding, much deeper than I had when I first wrote The Shining Ones and now of course 2 years after writing it, there is much more. There was work needed to be stated on the kundalini and the void to explain this to people as part of the process of enlightenment and I knew Gary had written on this and that it had to be cut from our books together so I asked him if I could use it, to which he very kindly gave permission. In the UK version of the book I put in a thank you in a couple of places for this, but unfortunately these got edited out, partly my fault, from the US version. I have instructed the publishers to have these credits placed back into the book, because Gary wrote the Kundalini and Void excerpts and I simply adapted them according to my own viewpoint on the them and included my views on quantum entanglement - more of which will come soon. Unfortunately I have upset Gary by this omission and I did not intend to. We have had our differences, as all co-authors seem to, it seems to be the nature of things, but I wanted to publicly say sorry to Gary for the omission and say that this will be set straight. The kundalini and the void were exceptional inputs to the book and that's why I asked to use them, I was at fault for not ensuring credits were placed in there. It is not worth falling out with anybody over, there is zero money made out of these things, regardless of what peoples perceptions are. If you wish to publish - then SELF publish as you will make more out of your own project that way.
As for The Serpent Grail, again, I had already written the book and discovered the serpent worship and venom and blood links in alchemy etc and gotten a publishing deal on it, but then Gary introduced his remarkable work on the philosopher's stone and the enlightenment which simply had to go with a work such as this and so I pulled the deal and told the publishers to wait for Gary to do his thing. This meant that the work was now 100% and not only 50% right!
I hope this sets the record straight and I will endeavour to not be so busy doing all the radio shows etc to make sure his contributions are credited in future, because regardless of what the likes of James Randi say about Mr Osborn, they are not right and he is on to something quite profound, regardless of the minor things (kundalini) that we may disagree on, which is human and our prerogatives. Even carl Jung stated that synchronicity is more profound than our modern scientific minds can comprehend and I would suggest that Randi et al look towards quantum physics for answers rather than sitting and waiting smug like for others to find them.
Again, my sincere apologies for the omission and my warmest wishes to all.
My future work stacks up in a strange manner. In March I have The Ark, The Shroud and Mary due out which goes heavily into quantum physics and various other things that I dare not say at present. I am finishing off a book at the moment about the Delusional state, from a perfectly psychological perspective, which will go into depth on illusions and the world of our own creations. I am working with several people, including Steve and Julie of Soul Path on a Yoga dvd, Michael Bourne on a UFO dvd and several other more entertainment based projects, as writing books is not something one can make a living out of easily to say the least. I find the world of the dvd fascinating and more creative and I am privelaged to be working on these with other creative people, including planned ones on Crystal Skulls and the paranormal. I am also working hard at Reality Entertainment trying to make sure we have good distribution networks for our dvd's, books and audio books. In addition to this I want to really make the Book of Thoth book contest do seriously well and to get all those who contributed a leg up on the ladder. The cover competition was outstanding. Well done to all those guys at renderosity.com
Anyway, back to my work on The Serpent Grail . . .
Having researched into the nature of ‘duality’ – being the result of my own Kundalini ("serpent fire") experiences – I began to apply my own insights and knowledge to Gardiner's initial insights about the original ‘elixir of life’.
I understood that the Holy Grail is associated with the ‘Holy Trinity’ and further that the Holy Trinity – based on the esoteric Triad – is associated with the opposites as well as the ‘neutral point’ – the point of enlightenment where all ‘duality’ is cancelled out – a non-dual state in consciousness. The physical location of this enlightenment appears to take place within the centre of the head or brain – hence my own insight as to why these opposite ingredients of the one snake were ‘symbolically’ mixed inside a ‘skull cap’ (head) and why this macabre bowl and the shamanic ceremonies that took place around the partaking of this elixir – like the Christian Eucharist or Mass – was perhaps the original one on which the Holy Grail vessel was based.
Looking at the reference made to the Holy Trinity in Matthew 28:19, and knowing what the ‘Holy Trinity’ really stood for, I felt it necessary to divide our perceptions of the Grail into three levels and these ‘three levels’ correspond with the principle Triad belonging to the various mystery schools of the esoteric and also the Holy Trinity as expressed in many of the world’s religions.
As far as I know, no one – no Grail expert or researcher – had ever done this before. And so by adopting the esoteric principle of the Triad I was able to explain and answer a great deal about our history as well as ourselves in terms of human physiology, the body’s immune system, human consciousness and its processes – as well as the nature of reality.
This work of mine is still ongoing; I have a mission to fulfil (that's how I see it) and cannot really continue without including and/or touching on the subject of the Grail, so it’s more than likely that I will be writing about the Grail again.
I have already written an article about the subject that can be found on my website: The Grail and the Alpha-Omega.
However, whether what I write is something that would be endorsed by those behind the ‘Forbidden Letters’ and/or those who are interested in the letters and the response articles is another thing . . . but I can assure people that I will no longer be writing with Philip Gardiner.
I felt that with this response to the Paris 4 letter in which the question has been raised as to whether we will write together again, and more specifically write a book on the Grail, I should say ‘No’ and give my reasons why.
Gary Osborn
November 15, 2006
